


something special happened today

by braverygasm



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Artist Harry, Artist Zayn, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, I Tried, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Teacher Louis, h is 21, i fkn love bro zouis, lou is 26, slight - Freeform, there may be a metaphorical subplot of zayn leaving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-23
Updated: 2015-04-23
Packaged: 2018-03-21 10:42:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3689250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/braverygasm/pseuds/braverygasm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>au; louis is a drama teacher with no filter. harry is a hotshot artist who uses flower petals instead of paints. they fall fast.</p>
            </blockquote>





	something special happened today

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LauDom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LauDom/gifts).



> prompt: Zayn drags Louis to an art show with some hot shot artist who uses flowers to do his projects instead of regular paintings or statues. He meets the artist and well, maybe green is now his favourite colour.
> 
> so this is for LauDom! i have to say that i was v busy last month so i accidentally saved this for the last minute, literally i finished it in two days, two hours before the supposed due date, then i went to post it and that's when i saw that the due date was changed. but i like how it turned out. thanks to justine and taylor for listening to me whine abt having to finish this nd helping w some details.
> 
> i'm dedicating this to the entire fandom bc we've just had the worst month of our lives. but, i'm so glad that zayn is happy now, he deserves it. and fuck naughty boy. team king louis.
> 
> title is from green lights by aloe blacc.
> 
> enjoy :^)

 

 

Louis turns the doorknob and enters his cold flat, immediately pulling his jacket tighter and furrowing his brow.

He wonders momentarily if Zayn had actually left the flat for once and turned the heat off. Now that would be an excuse that Louis could happily accept. But, by the distinct sound of rattling paintbrushes coming from down the foyer, that isn't the case.

Louis walks forward and finds Zayn's study door wide open. Calming music is flowing softly from the small speaker on his desk, and the easel is supporting a colorful canvas. Zayn is in front of it, side-stepping and presumably trying to see it from every possible angle. His hair is up in a bun, so Louis knows this is serious.

"Hey, mate." Louis says tentatively. At times like these, so close to shows, Zayn focuses like no other and often blocks out everything around him. Once, he went a whole three days without doing as much as acknowledging Louis. The latter had to physically drag him from the study and sit him down in the kitchen, before finally getting a depressed "Hey, Lou." It's a blessing and a curse.

Today gladly isn't one of those days.

"Lou," Zayn sighs, setting his brush down and rubbing a hand covered in dried paint down his face, "I need your help."

"What'd you eat today?" Louis asks, completely ignoring his flatmate's plead.

"I- what? No, I need to work." Zayn stutters out, turning around to return to his piece which looks like an artful version of the park they met at nine years ago.

"So, nothing. Come on." Louis steps forward and grabs Zayn by the wrist.

"Lou-" He tries, but ends in a sigh and lets the older man drag him to the kitchen.

Zayn sits down at the table and Louis fills their tea kettle with water, puts it on the burner, and goes to the refrigerator to hopefully scrounge up some decent food. He finds some half empty containers of chinese and bottles of beer. He moves the bottles away to reveal half eaten _Subway_ sandwiches.

"Three day old _Subway_ or week old chinese? Your pick." Louis looks over to the tired man, who just sighs.

" _Subway_."

Louis takes out the two sandwiches and hands the one with the Z on it to Zayn, before taking the seat opposite him.

"So. What's wrong?" Louis pulls the paper away and takes a hesitant bite. 

"Everything! Literally everything. I don't know what the fuck is missing from that piece, but it won't leave me alone. I need to finish it and I don't know how." Zayn looks like he's about to cry as he, too, takes a cautious bite of his sub.

"Maybe you just need to take a step back. Get some sleep, eat, get out of the flat. It'll come to you, promise." Louis advises. The kettle begins to whistle and Louis gets up to pull it off, knowing that Zayn doesn't like his tea too hot.

"The show is in three days. I don't have time to step back."

Louis pours water into two mugs, hearing the constant, nervous clatter of Zayn's nails against their cheap Ikea table. Louis sets both mugs on said table and gently presses his hand onto Zayn's until the clattering silences.

"Bro, you really need to chill," Louis sits back down in his seat across from Zayn, "When was the last time you got more than three hours of sleep? When was the last time you saw Perrie? She misses you, she actually texted me today. Perrie; your girlfriend, Perrie, texted me to make sure you're still alive. Mrs. _'Louis is so loud, Louis is so obnoxious, why do you still live with him?_ ' actually texted me."

Zayn visibly rolls his eyes and his cheeks puff out momentarily before exhaling. 

"She does not think you're obnoxious." It's Louis' turn to roll his eyes.

"On any other day, I would beg to differ, but right now, that is the least of my worries," he abruptly pushes his chair out from under the table, watching Zayn cringe from the screeching sound of worn metal against ceramic tiles, "now, let's order a movie, yeah? _The Imitation Game_ sound good? I've been dying to see it."

The dark-haired man sighs, but gives in and stands up, following Louis into their small living room. Small, but cozy.

"No, you've just been dying to see Benedict Cumberpatch-"

"Cumberbatch-"

"Cumberbatch, whatever. I don't get why you don't just watch Sherlock already." Zayn plops himself down onto their tiny sofa, sprawling himself out while Louis walks back to his bedroom to retrieve some blankets.

"Because, the episodes are, like, two hours long. I do not have the patience for that." Louis shouts through their fairly thin walls.

"Really? Not even for good ol' Benedict Cumbersnatch?" Zayn teases, bottom lip pouting out as Louis tosses the blankets at his head.

"Fuck off."

*******

The show is tomorrow and Zayn claims that he is not freaking out as an orange-dipped paintbrush falls out of his shaking hand and onto the plastic tarp beneath their feet.

The past two days were okay; Louis managed to get him out of the house once, but it wasn't so much for space as it was for research. Louis ended up chaperoning Zayn on the Tube to Manchester where they would then visit the park that he was admittedly painting.

The sun was just setting and Zayn compared the picture he took of his canvas to the scenery in front of him until the angle was just right, then proceeded to take more pictures.

"Is this really necessary? Don't you have enough?" Louis asked as Zayn steadied his phone and tapped the camera button.

"Not enough at sunset." Zayn murmured offhandedly.

Now, Louis watches from the doorway as Zayn carefully picks up his brush and sets it down on the table with the rest of his supplies. He sits down on the floor tentatively and Louis does the same by his side.

"What if I don't finish it and then we're at the show and I finally figure out what's missing but it's too late? What if I fuck it up and I have to start all over? What if it's not as good as I think?" Zayn rattles off worst-case scenarios like lightning.

"Zayn, I can assure you, none of those things will happen, and I, for one, think it is very beautiful." Louis smiles to himself as a congratulations for finally giving reassuring compliments.

"Yeah, well, you also thought that Monet was a type of cheese." Louis' smile falls into an offended frown.

"Oh, I'm sorry, maybe you'd like one of your fellow broke-arse, hipster friends to pay your rent." Louis contends, Zayn rubbing his temples.

"You're right, I love you, Louis Tomlinson, never ever leave me to fend for myself!" Zayn throws his arms around his best mate's neck.

"Okay, okay, now would you like some tea? Coffee? Donuts? I bought donuts." Louis shoves Zayn off and makes to stand up, but the other man pulls him back down just as quickly.

"Donuts. Last time you bought donuts you told me that you had gotten fired for calling another teacher a hag." Zayn squints his eyes.

"She was a hag-"

"And the time before that it was because we were getting evicted-"

"You're the one who brought home a feral cat-"

"Prada was not feral and what do you have to tell me, hm Tommo?"

Louis purses his lips and takes a side glance over at Zayn, finding him staring back with his eyebrows raised expectantly.

"Sprinkles? Cream-filled? I got a few powdered sugar ones-"

"Louis." Zayn doesn't use his full first name unless he's being serious, which is rare.

"Zayn."

Once he realizes that Zayn isn't going to give in, Louis sighs and turns to face him.

"I can't make it to the show." Louis closes his eyes, waiting for the punishing words. When nothing comes, he opens his eyes to find Zayn smiling and shaking his head slightly.

"Good one, Tommo." Louis' brow knits together in frustration.

"Wait- what- no, I'm being serious!" Zayn stands up and claps his hands together.

"And why wouldn't you be able to make it? Hm? What could Louis Tomlinson possibly be doing on a Sunday evening?" 

Louis scoffs and stands as well. Realizing he hadn't actually come up with an excuse, he just scoffs again.

"Well- I'm- there's this teacher thing. This teacher meeting. A faculty meeting."

"On a Sunday night? At six o'clock?" Louis opens his mouth, but no words find their way out, "why don't you want to go?"

"Because!" Louis sighs as Zayn waits for an elaboration, one hand resting on his cocked hip.

"Last time I was cornered by a bunch of pretentious aresholes spewing French surnames at me and I'd really not like that to happen again." 

Zayn sighs and waves a hand dismissively.

"You can just stay with me the whole night. I'll make sure that everyone knows you're an incompetent drama graduate." Louis rolls his eyes.

"Yes, being a third wheel to you and Perrie _is_ the next best thing."

"Perrie has her own friends coming, you'll be fine. C'mon, Lou, I need my best mate there with me. The other artists are really good and I could always use your sarcastic quips." 

Louis gnaws on the inside of his cheek and stares down a pouting Zayn.

"Fine."

Zayn smiles victoriously and picks up a clean paintbrush.

"Knew you'd come through, bro." 

Louis rolls his eyes again and begins walking defeatedly out of the room.

"Take a break and come eat celebratory donuts with me." 

"I just took a break!" Zayn shouts and resumes blasting Drake from his speakers.

*******

Louis is dreading the show. At least Zayn gets to see his other friends and he enjoys the art and all, but Louis just isn't that kind of person. He doesn't get ten different metaphoric vibes from three red lines on an off-white canvas. He can't appreciate abstract art in the same way that Zayn does.

And the people are just a whole different story. Louis hasn't met one person at one of these events that hasn't given him a strange look when they hear that Louis' profession is teaching theatre to kids and that the only Donatello he knows of is the Ninja Turtle. Some of them don't even have to talk to him, it's like they just sense that he's utterly out of his realm.

Louis does not bode well with people who treat outsiders like the dog shit they scraped off their Louboutins that morning.

He wraps a white towel around his waist and opens the bathroom door, stepping into their foyer.

Zayn told him to dress nicely, which, to Louis, means his only suit. It's a dark blue suit jacket and pants that he got for his mother's wedding and has worn exactly twice since then.

He wears a crisp, white, collared dress shirt under it and steps into black dress shoes. The suit does make him feel important and quite Bond-esque. Louis stands in front of his full-body mirror and makes a hand gun, pointing and shooting around his room like he's twelve again.

Zayn throws open his door unexpecedly and Louis jumps, pretending to be adjusting his jacket. He hears a chuckle escape Zayn's mouth and turns around to smack him.

Zayn looks exquisitely elegant, as always. He's wearing a long, collarless coat rolled up to his elbows over a white dress shirt and faux leather vest with fitted, black pants and combat boots. If Zayn wasn't such a good artist, he would surely be in the fashion industry.

"Fix your hair." Zayn suggests, reaching up to do it himself before Louis bats his hand away. Zayn's own hair is tied tightly back in a sleek bun.

"What, you don't like the fresh-out-of-the-shower look?" Zayn doesn't giggle like Louis expects; not even a smirk. He just sighs softly and adjusts his sleeves.

"Hey," Louis starts, walking around Zayn to face him, "your pieces are great, they're gonna love you."

This time, he gets a soft smile out of the younger man.

"Thanks, but it's not just that. My mate Harry texted me and said that there's gonna be a bunch of business people there looking for pieces to put in their galleries and shit. This could be huge for me, I might actually make enough money to be able to split the rent this month."

Louis smiles; he knows how much hard work and care Zayn puts into his art and he knows how he's always wanted his work to be shared with the world. Louis knows that he deserves it and he feels proud of Zayn already.

"That's amazing. I'm so proud of you, Z. I don't want to jinx it, but I know they're gonna love you." Louis throws his arms around Zayn's neck and the latter wraps his arms around Louis' waist.

"Thank you so much. For everything. And, also, if you see anyone really official-looking, don't be afraid to put in a few good words about me, even just a name drop would help." Zayn winks and Louis nods in understanding.

"Got it. Now, what am I doing with my hair?"

*******

They arrive at the event about ten minutes late because Louis had gotten hair gel on his suit and then tried to rub it off with water, which obviously left a large wet spot. Zayn eventually blow-dried it out, but not before declaring that Louis is the worst at time management and so from now on he is to be ready thirty minutes before an event and then locked in a closet for the remainder of the time, to which Louis cracked a joke and was hit upside the head with his own hairbrush.

The person in charge of the event had set up the whole thing quite oddly, according to Zayn. A man came around at about 4:00 to pick up his pieces, didn't say a word. And now there's a person standing behind a podium with a guestbook before them, waiting expectantly.

"Um, Zayn Malik. My plus one. Or, two, in fact." He gestures to Louis and Perrie. That was another thing, each artist showing was required to have a plus one, at least. Apparently no one can just walk in before 6:30. It probably has some deep meaning or purpose that Louis will never understand.

The man behind the podium gives them a curt nod and pulls back a curtain. Zayn looks back at them and hesitantly steps through. Louis thanks the man quietly before following behind Perrie.

The second they properly enter the venue, a woman is running up to them and Perrie screeches gleefully.

"Jade!" The two embrace shortly and then Perrie steps back to look at her friend.

"You look stunning!" Perrie compliments, and she's right. Jade is wearing a fitted, black crop top underneath a neutral-toned, patterned blazer, sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and matching pants with black, pointed heels. Her hair is a gorgeous honey color which rests just below her shoulders in soft waves.

Perrie and Zayn apparently decided to wear corresponding outfits because Perrie's is a long coat over a faux leather bralet and fitted, black pants with black ankle boots. Her blonde hair is slicked back, falling down her back.

"Aw, you too, love. I'm so glad to see you." Louis watches the two girls converse until Perrie turns to excuse herself and gives Zayn a quick kiss before the girls walk down to another section of the gallery.

"Well." Louis sighs as he turns on his heel to face Zayn.

"Let's go visit my display." Zayn begins walking swiftly in the opposite direction.

 

Zayn's display consists of five pieces, including the park, which he apparently found the missing aspect to. Above the canvases is a white plaque that reads _Zayn J. Malik_.

"Nice, mate. Proud of you." Louis throws an arm around his friend and gazes at the display.

"Please, the show hasn't even properly started yet."

Louis' favorite piece besides the park is a sky full of stars. It's gorgeously detailed and intricate; different colors spliced in perfectly.

Louis is busy admiring the piece when he hears a soft "Zaaaaayn" from behind them. Both boys let go of each other to turn and identify the voice, but it seems that Zayn is already familiar because he's shouting "maaaaate" before Louis has the chance.

Louis gathers that the boy is tall and wearing a pinstripe suit, which, is refreshing, to say the least.

When Zayn pulls away from the hug, Louis gets a better look at the man. The gorgeous, gorgeous man with _long_ , dark curls and the brightest smile, white teeth lined with soft, pink lips. Louis studies the crinkles by his eyes and the way he throws his head back when he laughs at something Zayn said.

_How has Zayn hid this fellow demigod from Louis all these years?_

Louis senses that the conversation has turned serious just as he catches the man's eye over Zayn's shoulder. They hold each others' gazes for a few long seconds before the man turns his attention back to Zayn, whom then looks over his shoulder at Louis as well.

"Lou, I'll be back in a bit, just stay put, and try not to murder my colleagues."

Louis does find it a bit odd- rude, even- that Zayn hasn't introduced this brilliantly attractive lad to his equally attractive flatmate and bestest friend of almost ten years.

"No promises." He replies before Zayn and The Enigma walk off quickly. Just as quickly, Louis is approached by a waiter balancing five champagne flutes on a platter. He takes two, downing the one immediately and placing it back on the tray. What an interesting start to the night.

*******

It's about eight or ten glasses of champagne later that Louis is standing, miffed and slightly bewildered, in front of a piece that appears to be a flamingo contrived of flower petals.

Not paints, but flower petals.

Louis reads the plaque above it- and the four others; all birds. _Harry E. Styles._ He can already picture the fucker; all decked out in a fedora and oversized glasses, balancing his champagne flute all fancy and explaining how the flower petals represent fragility, the birds hastiness.

Louis is thinking about how much he wants to punch every superficial entity in this damn building when he sees Zayn approaching out of the corner of his eye.

"What kind of pretentious bastard uses flower petals instead of paint?" Louis spits as Zayn's eyes widen. Through his buzz, Louis recognizes The Enigma standing next to him.

"Fuck, Louis William..." Zayn mutters. He had picked up calling him by his first and middle name as a joke from Louis' mother, but he sounds frustrated and a little...embarrassed?

"Hello," The Enigma starts, pushing in front of Zayn and holding out his hand, "I'm Harry Styles," he points at the display, "glad to hear your honest opinion on my work. Not much of that going around."

Louis can feel his face coloring as soon as his lethargic brain processes the information.

"Um-" He tries.

"Am a bit offended, if _I'm_ being honest." Harry- _what a pretty name for such a pretty boy_ \- adds, waving his champagne glass- which he is holding normally- around for emphasis.

Louis himself is rendered speechless. He fish-mouths for a second before pressing his lips into a firm line and exhaling hard through his nose, then looking to Zayn and fish-mouthing some more.

"Okay, let's take this, first of all," Zayn detains Louis' half empty champagne flute, staring at it momentarily before rolling his eyes and downing the rest himself, "and Harry," Zayn places the glass on a passing waiter's tray, "I'm so sorry, he doesn't have a filter, honestly."

Louis can tell Zayn is scrambling for more words when he decides to jump in.

"Z, mate, chill, I can speak for myself." Louis pats his shoulder in a way meant to be reassuring but ends with Louis just leaning on him. He turns to look at Harry, who is obviously trying to suppress a smile. Louis loses his words again upon noticing how vividly green the man's eyes appear. They're almost glowing in the low lighting, the left one appearing lighter because of the small lamp above his own display.

"Your- I'm. I'm sorry. For calling you a pretentious arsehole-"

"Bastard-"

"Right, bastard. Pretentious bastard. Which you're not! Of course not. No, I mean I've never met you before. I've never met you, but your pretty green eyes, they tell me that-"

"No, nope, let's go find my girlfriend and we'll go home, yeah? C'mon Tommo." Zayn catches a teetering Louis and attempts to carry him away, but the drunken lad isn't having it.

"But Zaynie, I haven't even gotten a chance to properly apologize to the lovely lad!" Louis slurs his words.

"Okay, enough, Lou."

"I told you I didn't wanna come to this. I support you Zaynie, but from a distance. Isn't it enough that I see the process of your paintings? Why do I have to come here just to see them all hung on a wall?" Louis asks increduously.

"You're right, Louis. I'm never, ever bringing you again." Zayn leans Louis against a separate wall and tells him to stay put before going over to talk to Harry again.

Harry's smiling softly the whole time, occasionally glancing over to Louis, who has a tight grin plastered on his face, hands shoved into his pockets.

Louis watches as a man with a high quiff and a tall, blonde girl in a matching peach top and skirt come up behind Harry. They acknowledge each other in a too-friendly manner that has Louis removing himself from the wall.

Zayn seemingly says his goodbyes and turns around just as Louis begins trying to stumble his way towards the group.

"Hey, mate, no, no. C'mon." Louis is dragged away against his will, glancing back and locking his gaze with a grinning Harry's once more before he's out of sight, but surely not out of mind.

*******

The pounding inside his head is what ultimately wakes Louis up, but the barking dog outside his window is a wealthy contribution.

Louis is so out of it that he almost walks out of his bedroom with his white dress shirt half on his body and half tucked into his boxers. He wonders how that happened last night.

Last night. All that he recalls is the color green. Hazy, glowing green.

Louis ponders the mystery while ripping off his shirt, discarding it somewhere irrelevant, and wandering into the kitchen, rubbing his temples. He passes a figure that could or could not be Zayn. It doesn't worry him as much as it really should as he's quite set on finding the Advil.

He finally retrieves it and fills a glass with water, downing three. Probably a bit more than necessary as he wasn't quite plastered last night, but Louis has never been one for technicalities.

Louis exhales loudly before turning around to fetch something from the fridge, but his plans are put on hold because it turns out the aforementioned figure is definitely not Zayn.

It's a stranger with long, curly, brown hair wearing a floral shirt that exposes most of his chest and the shiny, silver crucifix hanging from his neck.

Still half asleep, Louis presumes it's just another one of Zayn's one night stands. But then, Zayn has Perrie now. So this man sipping coffee leisurely in Louis' kitchen is either Zayn's mistress, or a friend whom Louis hasn't been introduced to. Or, it could be Louis' one night stand.

But, no. The green. The man raises his eyebrows while they're gazes are still locked, and Louis sees it. 

_Harry_.

"There you go." Harry says in response to the presumably obvious look of realization on Louis' face.

In conclusion, Zayn is faithful, Louis still hasn't gotten any in three months, and he's been staring at Harry for longer than socially acceptable.

Most of the night is still fuzzy, but Louis now remembers Harry in his pinstripe suit and, most definitely, his eyes.

"Ah, lads. Laddy lads." Zayn exclaims cheerily as he enters the room fully dressed.

"No shouting." Louis whispers hoarsely.

"Right. You drank yourself silly last night." Zayn hints through a smirk.

"Shut the fuck up, I can't remember anything." Louis hears Harry giggle and he feels left out.

"Lots of things happened last night. Specifically, some name-calling. Some rude, some quite flattering." Zayn shares a sneaky glance with Harry, who blushes lightly.

"Really, what am I missing?" Louis demands, memories coming back to him in bits in pieces. Champagne flute after champagne flute, floral birds, Zayn's name illuminated on an engraved plaque, Harry.

"How did you manage to drink so much without being cut off?" Zayn avoids his question.

"First of all, it's not a bar. Second of all, I had a system of alternating waiters." Louis recalls that part.

"Are you an alcoholic?" Harry jumps in with his ridiculously posh accent, which shouldn't be as endearing as Louis finds it, along with the slight, curious tilt of his head. Zayn chuckles.

"No, it was just a mixture of frustration and self-pity. And a guy, I think." Louis explains as he searches through the fridge for the milk. Zayn laughs again, louder this time.

"Glad you're getting a kick out of this mate." Louis says as he walks past Zayn, slapping his shoulder a little too hard to be playful.

"Does the phrase 'pretentious bastard' ring a bell?" Harry steps in. Louis stops pouring his _Coco Pops_ as a large piece of the night comes back to him.

"Oh. Oh shit." Louis mentally kicks himself for offending this beautiful boy, who is now smiling at him, which, wow, "I'm so sorry, listen-"

"It's fine, really. Actually quite refreshing." Harry sips his coffee again, glancing at Zayn to his right. Louis does the same, finding him nodding along with a smirk.

"Honestly, though, I don't have a filter, especially when I've had a bit to drink."

"Oh, yes, I know." The corner of Harry's mouth twitches up into a pleased smirk.

"What did I say?" Louis asks tentatively, not sure he wants to know the answer.

"Pretty green eyes, lovely lad, and then the ride home was just a plethora-"

"Alright, Z. You'll never let me drink around your hot, pretentious friends ever again. Duly noted." Louis brings a spoonful of _Coco Pops_ to his mouth just as Perrie enters the kitchen in one of Zayn's t-shirts that was probably once Louis'.

"Hi, babe." She says, leaning up on her tiptoes to give Zayn a kiss.

"Morning, Pez." He returns.

"Hey, Harry, what are you doing here?" Perrie says, sounding pleasantly surprised, wrapping him in a warm embrace.

"Am I the only one who has never met you?" Louis asks, annoyed.

"You're always complaining about my pompous, artsy friends." Zayn counters.

"But, like." Louis says like it's painfully obvious that he hasn't had sex in the longest time and Harry is drop-dead gorgeous.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?" Perrie asks Zayn, pulling him out of the room, leaving just Louis and Harry.

"Look-"

"You don't have to keep apologizing." Harry smiles softly.

"But I do because I really didn't hate your pieces, I was just thinking of some hipster, artsy dude explaining to me the deep meanings behind using flower petals to construct birds."

Louis hopes to God that Harry isn't one of those people.

"Well, I do like flowers, and I like birds, but that's really all there is to it." Harry finishes off his coffee and sets the mug down in their sink.

"Good. Cool." Louis finishes his _Coco Pops_ and looks at the clock on their microwave: _12.31_.

"Oh my god!" Louis shouts, "Is it Monday?" He asks Harry increduously. Harry nods slowly, confused.

"Oh, do you have work?" He asks nonchalantly. Louis can't deal with these unemployed artsy people.

"Damn it." Louis leaves the kitchen in search of Zayn, ready to give him an earful. He finds him and Perrie in the living room, sitting on the couch and apparently having a serious conversation.

"What the hell-"

"I called you in sick." Zayn explains quickly.

"What? Why?"

"Because I didn't think you'd want to be around screaming eight year olds while fighting off a hangover." Zayn doesn't sound very pleased.

"Okay, okay. No problem, I just almost had a heart attack there for a minute, thanks, bro." Louis retreats back into the kitchen in fear of Perrie ripping his head off.

"That woman hates me." Louis mutters to Harry, who smiles and shrugs.

"She loves me." 

"Yeah, well, you're likable. See, I call my friends' friends pretentious bastards within seconds of meeting them." 

It's quiet for a second, Harry just smiling at Louis, who leans against the counter and crosses his arms over his bare chest.

"Would you like to go out for lunch?" Harry offers. Louis smirks, pretending to balance his options.

"Well, I do have a busy schedule of doing absolutely nothing today but-"

"Lou," Zayn peeks his head into the kitchen, "could I talk to you for a minute?" 

"Sure." Louis looks to Harry, who nods politely.

"What's going on?" Louis asks once they're standing in the living room, Perrie gone back to the kitchen.

"Perrie wants me to move in with her." Zayn confesses. Louis stands silently for a moment.

"Like, without me?"

"Lou, be serious." Zayn sighs.

"You're right, okay, well. As long as you want to, I mean, do you want to?"

"Yeah, I love her, and it'd be great to live with her, but I'm afraid we're moving too fast." Louis nods.

"Well, I'm not the best person to ask for relationship advice, but you've been together for more than a year. How much longer should you wait?"

"I don't know. And it's not just that, I mean, I don't want to just ditch you." Louis scoffs, letting his arms fall to his sides.

"Zayn, you wouldn't be ditching me, we'd still see each other, it's just that now she has to deal with your weird, artsy zones instead of me."

Zayn rubs his eyes and sighs.

"Look, if it makes you happy, then I'm fine with it." Louis lies because, while he knows that it's wrong, he does feel a bit abandoned. He always saw this day coming, but imagining their apartment without Zayn is not a comfortable feeling.

"Okay, well, I'll talk it through a bit more with Pez, 'cause she could still change her mind."

"Cool, just keep me in the loop. I don't wanna wake up one morning to all your bags packed and ready to go."

"Of course, thanks for being so chill about it. You're the best mate I could ask for." Zayn wraps his arms around Louis' neck, pulling him in tight.

"Don't start going all mushy and sentimental on me now, Z."

The two return to the kitchen to find Perrie and Harry sitting on their counter and eating their chocolate.

"I'll take you up on that lunch offer, Harold." Louis says, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.

Harry's smile is blinding as he hops down from the counter. Louis leaves to put some clothes on, filled with conflicting feelings of abandonment and infatuation.

*******

"My name isn't Harold." Harry protests when sitting on Louis' couch, the latter in his kitchen making popcorn.

Zayn and Perrie had worked out a trial run of sorts while deciding if they should commit to living together. So, for the entire week, Zayn has been at Perrie's house, leaving Louis feeling very lonely in their big flat.

In return, Harry has taken pity on the man and has been spending the week showing up at random points in the day and night.

Zayn had left Sunday morning and Louis was alone for just two hours before texting Harry lyrics to _All By Myself_ by Celine Dion. Great lad that he is, Harry was at Louis' flat twenty minutes later. They hung out and talked more about Harry's interest in art and Louis told him about his job as a drama teacher at a primary school.

Monday morning, Louis woke up not to his alarm, but to the smell of eggs wafting in from his kitchen. He almost considered the idea of Zayn returning early, but then again, Zayn hasn't cooked a day in his life. He narrowed it down to either a very hungry burglar, or a certain curly-headed fellow. It was the latter. Harry had apparently found the key taped to the top of Louis' doorway and let himself in. Louis would have kicked him out if it weren't for the amazing egg on toast he had made.

Louis got home from work on Tuesday to find his flat tidy and smelling suspiciously like Harry's honeysuckle perfume.

Wednesday, Harry spent the entire evening teaching Louis how to cook. Louis, of course, has a knack for extravagence, so the recipe he chose was for chicken stuffed with mozzarella cheese, wrapped in parma ham, with a side of homemade mashed potatoes. It turned out better than Harry'd expected.

Now, it's seven o'clock on a Thursday night. Harry had shown up a bit later than usual because he had a meeting with someone who owns a huge art gallery in London. Louis insisted that he not come over if the guy was interested in his work and wanted to extend the meeting, but Harry was set in his ways. Louis had mentioned previously that he had never seen Titanic the whole way through, so this morning Louis woke up to a text saying _Titanic. Tonight, 7.00 sharp_.

"Your name can't just be Harry. It's a nickname." Louis pours the popcorn into one big bowl and walks back into the living room.

"Hey!" Harry whines, bottom lip jutting out. It's unbearably cute.

"Aw, no, your name is lovely. Let's get this movie going, shall we?" Louis suggests before Harry can cause him any more heart pains.

 

Louis presumes that Harry fell asleep sometime right after _"paint me like one of your french girls"_ , that being the last time he heard a peep from the man snoring softly on his shoulder.

It's the creaking of the sinking ship that eventually wakes Harry from his slumber. He lifts his head slowly from Louis and giggles hoarsely.

"Sorry." He apologizes as Louis fonds over the sleepy boy. He looks younger than 21, softer, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"It's fine, not too much happened, just the ship kinda hit a glacier and a few hundred people are dying." Louis explains offhandedly, making Harry chuckle again.

"Oh, this is the saddest part." Harry's face falls, pulling his knees up to his chest. Louis curses whoever it was that decided to bring this adorable boy into his life.

Louis returns his attention to the television, watching Rose sit on a wooden door in the middle of the ocean, holding Jack's hand and promising to never let go.

He hears soft sniffles from his right as Jack sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Louis glances over at a crying Harry. He hestitantly throws an arm around the boy, pulling him into his side.

"Aw, H, Leo's still alive. And Oscar-less, but." Harry chuckles and smacks Louis' knee in reprimand.

"Shut up, it's sad."

"It's cheesy." Harry sighs, settling more into Louis' side.

"Hush." He surrenders.

By the time the credits are rolling, Harry is fast asleep.

*******

"Okay, put your props back on the prop table and get your things together!" Louis shouts at his class.

The kids scramble to follow orders and Louis sees Elliot coming from the corner of his eye.

"Mr. Tomlinson!" Elliot screeches, running up to his teacher. Elliot is arguably Louis' favorite student. He's an orphan who's had a hard life, but his enthusiasm never fails to impress Louis.

"Elliot! Hey, bud, what's up?" Louis crouches down to be eye level with the eight year old.

"Mrs. Hannigan told me to tell you that she wants you to come to dinner tonight." Elliot says, refering to his foster mother. Mrs. Hannigan is a nice lady. She's one of the only parents who visits him for parent-teacher conferences and Louis always has nothing but positive things to say about Elliot and her other foster kid, Julie.

The only thing is that Mrs. Hannigan thinks that Louis is straight. She hasn't stopped pursuing him for the five years that Louis has worked here. Every year he has had a different foster kid of hers, and he swears that even if he didn't, she would still visit him.

"Oh, well, tonight I actually have plans with a friend." Louis stutters out. Elliot's face falls and he instantly feels bad.

"But I'm sure he'll understand. Tell Mrs. Hannigan I'll be there around five." Elliot's smile recovers and he jumps up and down excitedly.

"Thank you, Mr. Tomlinson!" Elliot runs off to gather his things and Louis stands up, still smiling.

Louis lifts his head and his gaze is instantly drawn to the corner of the room where Harry is standing, smiling fondly. Louis' grin widens, if that's even possible, as he makes his way over to the man.

"Don't tell me you have a kid." Louis says playfully, shoving his hands into the pockets of his dress pants.

"Nah, you're enough of a child for me." Harry laughs. "Ready to go?"

"Actually, I can't tonight. I was invited to dinner at a parent's house, and I have a really hard time saying no to these kids." Louis justifies, watching Harry's eyebrows raise.

"Oh, no, that's fine. Yeah, totally." Harry nods in understanding. Julie saves them from an awkward silence by running up and throwing her arms around Louis' waist.

"Mr. Tomlinson we're gonna have so much fun tonight! Mrs. Hannigan said she'll make dinner real special." Julie exclaims.

"Hi, my name is Julie. What's your name?" She abruptly turns her attention to Harry, who crouches down to lessen the height difference.

"My name is Harry. You've got a great teacher here." Louis is thankful that Harry doesn't look up to see the blush spreading across his cheeks. 

"He's the best!"

"He sure is." Harry agrees, this time catching Louis' blush.

"Hey, Julie, do you think Mrs. Hannigan would mind if I brought Harry to dinner with me?" Louis asks. Harry begins to stutter out words of dissent, but Julie cuts him off with an excited gasp.

"She'll love Harry! We're going to have the best time!" Julie screeches and runs off to presumably find Elliot.

"You really didn't have to do that." Harry says as he stands up, smiling slightly.

"I didn't, but this woman is terrifyingly set on getting me into bed, and you're really good at talking to people, _and_ I won't be ditching you. It's a win-win."

Harry's laugh is melodic and Louis is pleased with his decision. They walk the kids to their school buses together and then head to their separate cars to drive to Louis' flat. 

*******

"It's just dinner, no big deal." Louis comforts as he removes his keys from the ignition.

"Right, but isn't this a bit rude? I wasn't invited." Harry says nervously.

"You're thinking too much. I'm sure she won't mind. If anything, she might finally realize that I'm not straight." Louis says, opening the car door.

"Why would she-"

"C'mon!" Louis deters, climbing out of the car, Harry following him to the door of Mrs. Hannigan's old, blue house.

Louis knocks on the door three times. He can sense that Harry isn't so nervous anymore, which is good, because Louis planned for Harry to do most of the talking.

The door swings open to reveal a tall, hispanic woman, wearing heavy makeup and a red, knee-length dress.

"Louis! Oh, and you brought a guest." Mrs. Hannigan doesn't exactly sound thrilled, but not necessarily rude.

"Hello, Mrs. Hannigan." Louis greets, holding his hand out to shake, but she takes the initiative to hug him.

"Oh, please, call me Laurie."

"Hello, Laurie, I'm Harry Styles." Harry shakes her hand and glances over to Louis, who is smiling politely.

"Nice to meet you, Harry." Laurie invites them in, taking their coats before squealing is heard down the hall and Elliot and Julie come to join them.

"Mr. Tomlinson!" They shout in unison. Louis leans down to hug each of them.

"Kids, dinner!" Laurie shouts down the foyer. She leads them into the kitchen where six places are set at an eight-chair dining table. A third boy walks into the room, a bit older, maybe thirteen.

"Elton, would you please grab another plate for Harry?" Laurie requests as she begins to dish out rice.

Louis takes a seat in between Elliot and Julie on one side of the table. Harry sits on the end to his left, Elton on the opposite side to his right. Louis notices another little presence in the doorway. It's a little girl, probably the youngest of them all. She has dark skin and big hair, wearing pink _The Little Mermaid_ pajamas.

Harry seems to notice too. Louis watches him smile warmly at the girl and beckon her into the room. She's shy, which makes it all the cuter when she sits in the chair closest to Harry, tentatively glancing upwards at him.

"What's your name?" Harry whispers. The girl doesn't answer right away.

"I'm Harry." He offers.

"Violet." The girl mutters.

"That's a very pretty name, Violet. I used to work at a flower shop and there was a little girl who would always come in to buy violets for her grandmother. Very pretty flower, you are."

Louis watches the exchange fondly, his heart physically warming at how the girl smiles gently.

"Louis?" Laurie's voice snaps Louis out of his daze.

"Hm?"

"Thigh or breast?" Louis looks at her in puzzlement.

"Excuse me?" Laurie giggles.

"The chicken. Would you like a thigh or a breast?"

"Oh, um, thigh. Thigh is fine." He stutters out. He hears Elliot giggling to his left. He leans in towards Harry, seemingly mocking Louis. He just rolls his eyes and looks away, but not before he notices the light blush coloring Harry's cheeks and the small smile trying to be suppressed.

 

Dinner goes smoothly, what with one or two mildly inappropriate comments from Laurie.

"You grew a beard out." She said.

"Not on purpose." Louis added, which made Laurie laugh like it was the funniest thing she had ever heard.

"But it is quite scruffy. I like it." She locked her gaze with Louis', who raised his eyebrows in mild disbelief. He stole a glance at Harry, whose lips were curled into his mouth, looking about ready to burst with amusement.

Violet didn't say much during dinner, occasionally answering to Harry or Laurie. She's unfairly cute, and so is Harry, so that makes it all the harder for Louis not to explode with adoration.

"Would you like some champagne?" Laurie offers after dinner when they're all gathered in the living room, playing with the youngers' toys. Elton had gone upstairs right after dinner to, as Laurie put it, ' _do pubescent boy things_ '.

"None for me, thanks." Louis smirks and Harry beams in amusement.

"Harry?"

"Yes, please." Harry says in his mannered way. Him and Laurie have been getting along delightfully well.

"You two are getting along grandly. Might be getting jealous over here." Louis teases, making Harry smirk.

"Over her or me?" He asks, handing Violet a toy firetruck. Louis is again rendered speechless by Harry, but he's saved from having to answer when Laurie returns with two glasses of champagne, handing one to Harry. The man sips, obviously pleased with himself.

"So, Harry, how do you know Louis?" Laurie asks, taking a seat on the tan, leather couch as opposed to the two men on the floor with the children.

"We met through a mutual friend at an art gallery." Louis smiles, amused by the memories he's recovered.

"Ah, so what do you do?" She inquires. Louis can't decipher if she's genuinely interested in Harry's life or if she's only scoping out the competition. Louis thinks that if it's the latter, she's going up against a firm opponent.

"I'm an artist. Yeah, I used to work at a flower shop," he pinches Violet's cheek, making her giggle, "but it went out of business. What about you?"

Louis mentally thanks Harry for keeping the conversation flowing. God knows if it was just him and Laurie, Louis would have probably been out the door by now.

"I work at a law firm, _McAdam & Horan_." Laurie sips her champagne. Louis starts breaking apart legos, helping Elliot build some kind of fortress.

"Oh, yeah, my flatmate, Niall, that's his dad's business. Small world." Violet tugs on Harry's sleeve, getting his attention. They whisper about something while Laurie looks between Louis and Harry confusedly.

"Wait, so you two don't, like, live together?" This catches both of the men's attention.

"No, I have a flatmate, too. Well he's actually moving out soon, I think." Once Louis says it, he realizes that the idea doesn't depress him as much as it did at first. That was, of course, when Zayn was pretty much his only friend. Now he has Harry.

"Oh!" Laurie laughs, "Here I am thinking you two are together or something!" She laughs, sounding gleefully relieved.

"Yes, what a crazy idea." Louis says mostly to himself, but Harry hears him, letting out a small giggle.

"Mrs. Hannagin, I'm tired." Julie whines, rubbing her eye with the back of her hand.

"Okay, let's get you all to bed." Laurie sets down her empty champagne glass and stands up, grabbing Julie's hand and leading her to the staircase.

"Here we go, Violet." Harry picks up the little girl, following Laurie and Julie up the stairs. Elliot puts his hand in Louis', going along with the pattern.

After the kids are all tucked in, the adults go back downstairs.

"I think we should get going, right H?" Louis clears his throat, kind of uncomfortable now that it's just them.

"Alright, well I had a nice time tonight. You really are their favorite teacher, Elton still talks about you. And I know El and Julie treat you like a father figure. I just wanted to thank you for being so good to them." Laurie kisses Louis' cheek, lingering a bit too long to just be friendly.

"Thank you, they're great kids. I'm looking forward to having Violet in a few years." Louis sees Harry's face light up out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm sure she'll love you, she's just a bit quiet. Yet to break out of her shell." The conversation lulls and Louis takes it as his oppurtunity to rock back on his heels before walking towards the coat rack.

"I'll see you at the next parent-teacher conference," Louis says, handing Harry his jacket before pulling on his own, "thank you for dinner, Laurie."

"Yes, thank you so much. The kids are lovely, they have a great foster mother." Harry smiles genuinely as they walk to the door.

"Thank you, Harry. You two have a great night, bye now." Laurie closes the door behind them.

The car ride home is silent, save for the soft music of Norah Jones.

Louis parks in the lot and pulls his keys from the ignition. Harry's car is still here, but Louis finds himself reluctant to say goodbye. He turns to face Harry, who has a smile growing on his face.

"That was nice. Thanks for bringing me." He says, quieter than usual.

"Yeah, I had a good time. Thank you for helping along the conversation. I probably would have been out of there before six if it wasn't for you." Louis smiles as well, reveling in the green of Harry's eyes staring back at him.

"My pleasure." There's a slight lull before Harry is leaning across the console, pressing his lips to Louis' carefully. It's short, far too short for Louis' liking, before Harry is pulling away and opening the car door.

"Bye, Louis."

 

Louis sits in his car for ten more minutes, trying not to combust.

*******

Zayn returns Saturday morning. He wakes Louis up just before noon, the latter excited to see him after so long.

"Bro, I have so much to tell you." Zayn says once they've released each other.

"You don't even know. This has been the most interesting week of my life." Louis counters. Zayn looks at him, surprised.

"You had fun without me?"

"The most fun. But you go first." They sit at the dining table, passing the pastries and tea Zayn had brought back and forth.

"I got an offer from someone who was at the show. He owns _Payne Modern Arts_ and he wants _The Nine Year Park_ and _Sky Full of Stars_ in his gallery." Louis gapes in excitement.

"That's fucking awesome, mate! I knew you would make it, I'm so proud of you!" They bump fists over the table.

"Yeah, I'm so excited. It's not too far from here, so we'll all be able to take a trip there to see 'em sometime." Louis nods in agreement as he breaks off a piece of his danish.

They talk about some more little things that happened to Zayn over the week, before he asks Louis what his big news was.

"Well, me and Harry hung out a lot. Like, every day. Was nice." Zayn's attention is obviously caught by his friend's name. He smirks, ready to poke some more details out of his best mate.

"Nice? Just nice?" He pries.

"Okay, it was fucking great. We cooked and we watched a bunch of movies and, most recently, we had dinner at a friend's house. He's fantastic." Zayn's smile grows with every word.

"And last night he kissed me." Zayn looks fucking ecstatic.

"Really? Are you into him? That's awesome!" Louis nods to nothing in particular, just thinking about how much he misses Harry now.

"Yeah, but I don't know how to go about it. I mean, what do I do?" Louis sighs into his danish.

"Ask him out."

"Please, Zayn, we're not in year five." Zayn rolls his eyes and sets down his half full cup of tea.

"No, I'm serious. You've got to take the initiative. He's already kissed you, now you have to take the next step." Louis exhales, overwhelmed.

"You know how much commitment scares me, Z."

"Yeah, but does it feel like a chore or does it feel normal?"

"It feels really normal. And awesome. He's so adorable, Zayn, you don't understand." Louis whines.

"I think I do. Just go for it, he's obviously into you, too." Louis finishes off his danish and takes a sip of tea.

"Onto another topic, have you and Perrie decided anything yet?" Louis inquires.

"Yeah, I think we're gonna do it. It was really nice at her place." Zayn nods, smiling.

"Good, I mean, of course I'll miss living with you and all that, but this was nice. We'll have a bunch to talk about now that we're not attached at the hip." Louis agrees.

"God, it sounds like we're the couple here." Both boys laugh, falling into a comfortable silence.

"I think I'm gonna go talk to Harry." Louis decides after a while.

"Good luck, mate." Zayn says with a smile, smacking Louis' bum as he walks to his bedroom to get ready.

*******

Louis knocks on the door that Zayn gave him directions to. After only a few seconds, it swings open to a lad with blonde hair, wearing a shirt that reads _Ireland's Finest_.

"Um, hi, is Harry there?" Louis asks hesitantly. If Zayn gave him the wrong address, he'll be a dead man.

"Yeah, come on in. I'm Niall, Harry's flatmate." The bells ring in Louis' head.

"I'm Louis, Harry's...friend." Louis shakes Niall's hand.

"Ah, the infamous Louis. Nice to finally meet you." Louis doesn't have time to ponder the infamous Louis remark, as Harry walks into the room.

"Who was at th- Louis." Harry cuts himself off, instantly smiling. Louis returns it, completely forgetting about Niall and turning all of his attention to the man in the white t-shirt and black boxers.

"Harry, hey. Can I talk to you?" Louis asks.

"Sure." Harry directs a burning glare at Niall, who exits the room quickly, leaving just Louis and Harry.

"Do you want a cup of tea or something?" Harry offers.

"Yeah, sure." Louis already had three while working up the courage to come here, but another couldn't hurt, and maybe this means he won't have to look Harry in the eye when admitting his feelings.

They sit on the counters in the kitchen while the water is boiling.

"Last night was really nice." Louis can't help but beat around the bush, but Harry cuts right to the chase.

"Look, I'm sorry if that kiss made you uncomfortable, I just-"

"No, actually that was really nice as well. A highlight, even." Louis breathes in and takes Zayn's advice on just going for it.

"And, if we're on the same page here-"

"Which we are-"

"I wouldn't be opposed to the idea of being something more. Than friends." It doesn't come out as smoothly as Louis had planned and revised ten billion times on the car ride here, but he gets it out nonetheless, feeling a weight lift off his chest.

Harry, on the other hand, is absolutely beaming.

"I'd like that." He says, quietly, reminding Louis of how he sounded in the car last night.

The whistling tea kettle is what makes Harry finally break their gaze and jump down from the counter, pulling it off the burner. Louis jumps down as well, standing right next to Harry at the stove.

He gets up on his tiptoes, kissing Harry's cheek because he feels like it and he can. Harry grins again and turns to face Louis, pressing his lips to Louis' own for the first time since last night. 

And it feels right- so completely right- when Harry pulls away and Louis presses their foreheads together, blue eyes meeting green; his new favorite color.

 

**Epilogue**

Louis opens his eyes, greeted by the soft ray of moonlight streaming in from the crack in their curtains. Under his chin, Harry's head rests, hair sprawled all over the pillow. Louis lazily kisses the top of his husband's head and moves away the strands obscuring his face. He's about to close his eyes again when he hears the pitter patter of little feet in their doorway.

"Daddy?" Violet whispers.

"Hey, Vi. What's wrong, darling?" Louis carefully pulls away from Harry, trying not to wake him up. He pats the bed, beckoning his daughter to come closer.

"I had a bad dream." Violet says as she wipes a tear from her cheek, walking closer to the bed. Louis leans over the side and picks her up, gently placing the nine year old in his lap.

"Getting big, aren't you? So what was this bad dream about, hm?" Louis feels Harry stir next to him.

"What's wrong?" Harry asks groggily in his worried father voice.

"Violet had a bad dream." Louis whispers, cuddling Violet closer to his chest.

"You and Dad left me at home and you never came back." Violet pouts into Louis' chest.

"Oh, honey," Harry pets her hair, "we'll never leave you. Come here, between me and Daddy." The corner of Harry's mouth turns up; he can never call Louis Daddy with a straight face.

They all lie back down, Violet's face pressed into Harry's chest, Louis' arm slung over her. He finds Harry's hand and clutches it in his own, feeling the warm metal of his wedding ring against his fingers.

"Go back to sleep, love." Louis whispers to his daughter. Harry smiles, eyes meeting his husband's.

"I love you." He whispers, Violet already snoring softly, Louis' free hand stroking her curly hair. Louis leans over her to press a lingering kiss to Harry's lips.

"Love you, too, babe."

**Author's Note:**

> aw, how cute. i love hl w kids. that "louis sighs into his danish" line towards the end didn't turn out right but i thought it was funny so i kept it in lmao. also, if anyone wants to britpick for me, come talk to me. comments and kudos much appreciated, thanks for reading :^)
> 
> twitter: @braverygasm  
> tumblr: seasonsoflarry


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